Asphalt Jumping
by kotobaka
Summary: After everything is said and done, John still wishes he could feel that power he once had back in the game. Dave could beg to differ. But even as they try to bury what happened back in Sburb, all it takes is a skateboarding accident to bring it all back


Hello, hello! Happy Homestuck Day, everyone! For this momentous occasion, I thought I'd write a little something for you all. Read on!

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><p><span>Asphalt Jumping<span>

It was done. Jack Noir was dead, the prize had been claimed. No longer were they the "doomed" session destined to be destroyed in their futile battles and quests. Sburb had been won. The kids had returned to their homes, their guardians returned to them upon Jack's death. Everything was in its rightful place again, everything was perfect. Too perfect, almost. It was as if the world had kept turning and living, not missing a beat while they were away—had they even been away? Even the meteor craters were gone. It was as if something had taken the world and suspended it in formaldehyde, preserving it perfectly in a lab until the kids could win it back.

They had stayed in touch, with Pesterchum and now with phones. It felt odd to only be able to communicate through the internet now, to not visit each other in dreams and only see the text on a screen or the voice over a receiver. It quickly became too much for any of them to take, of course, and Jade somehow procured a passport to visit them in the United States. The other three decided not to ask her methods, seeing as her only caretaker, Bec, was a dog that had remained inside the game as a sprite.

The four of them all stayed at John's house that summer, all of them happy to see each other and playing around like every other group of young teenagers. None of them wanted to admit the real reason they were so glad to see one another, the reason they all piled into sleeping bags on John's bedroom floor each night instead of staying in the couches and cots John's dad had made up for them. They needed to know the four of them were real. That Rose was no longer a dark sorceress, that dead Daves wouldn't start piling up again, that Jade wouldn't be haunted by awful online trolling messages anymore, that John was human and couldn't create hurricanes with a flick of his wrist. They all needed to be kids again, because if they weren't, what were they?

It was hard to adjust to normal life again—if anything could even be called "normal" anymore—but they tried their best. There were some changes, like Bec's absence and John and Rose seeing each other more often because of their parents' relationship. The visit this summer was a huge change, too, but if anything was going to help the four kids adjust to Earth again, it was being able to talk face to face.

They had to keep busy. Today it was the skate park. Rose had just gotten a new pair of roller skates and was trying them out on a ramp, while Jade ate an ice cream and watched. "Wow, Rose! You're getting really good so fast!" Jade exclaimed when Rose skidded to a stop at the bottom of the ramp.

"I am not that talented quite yet," the blonde girl deadpanned, "Although I am quickly hopping up the rungs to becoming a professional-grade athlete, I must admit."

Jade laughed and said, "Aw, you're so funny, Rose! But no sarcasm at all, you're learning really, really fast!" Rose shrugged and kicked against the pavement, climbing back up the ramp for another go before Jade could see the proud smile she was trying to hide. A sorceress never openly showed her pride in her work—but she was not a sorceress anymore. She was a teenage girl. A thirteen year old, American girl with a talent for roller-skating. Nothing more.

John watched the girls from his spot on the ledge of the half pipe. "Well, she hasn't fallen down yet," he said, "Maybe she'll get as good as her bro someday."

"She's not my sister," Dave said flatly, leaning on his skateboard and frowning at the half pipe. Then he paused, shook his head. "I mean, she's my sister, but… she's not. Just like you and Jade aren't brother and sister."

"But we share the same genetic code. That counts, right?"

"The same ghost slime, you mean," Dave said, "People are related by DNA and normal human reproduction. None of this ectobiology shit."

"Then maybe we're not—"

"Shut it!" Dave cut him off sharply, "We're human, John. All four of us. Even you, Mr. Windsock Hurricane. I don't get why you're still so obsessed with that game. We're done with it. And Rose isn't my sister," he added, casting a glance over at the girls, "We just… share radioactive space-time goo. Fucking disgusting."

John didn't press the topic further. He'd learned early on that mentioning Sburb to the others had mixed results, especially with Dave. John was the only one who still openly mentioned it, who talked about the trolls, who still secretly tried to hack into Trollian and talk to them again. But the others didn't need to know that.

He suddenly had the urge to move, do something active. He'd been sitting still too long, he needed to go fight some imps or twist some air into a whirlwind or—skateboarding sounded nice. He gestured toward Dave's red skateboard and asked, "Hey, could I try that for a second?"

"What? Dude, no way. You haven't even been on a board before, and we're standing on the mother of all tricks, this sick half pipe."

John shrugged and reached for the board, saying, "Come on, I've gone through much worse than a plank on wheels, just a quick go on it and I'll leave you alone."

Dave adjusted his shades as if thinking John's offer over. The bright sunlight reflected in them and John blinked hard to get the dazzle out of his eyes. Dave looked back over at him, then reluctantly handed over his skateboard. "Jesus, fine, try it out," he said, "But start down on the ground, you'll just break your neck if you try to start from up here."

John grinned and took the board, tucking it under his arm. He cast a long look out over the half pipe; he was so tempted to just go plunging down the side right then and there, to really try something genuinely dangerous for the first time since they had all returned to Earth. But he obediently climbed down from the platform and set the board down on solid, safe ground.

Dave followed him down. "Okay, so you have to keep your weight balanced in the middle of the board," he said, offering John a hand as he stepped onto the skateboard and wobbled around, trying to regain his balance on the shifting surface. Dave held onto him and after a moment of teetering, John was standing steady. He still held onto Dave, though, just in case. Dave continued: "Your center of gravity's in your belly button. Keep it in the middle of the board and you're all good."

Slowly, Dave backed away from John until he was standing completely on his own. He then carefully pushed him forward, and suddenly John was rolling across the blacktop, barely balanced on the skateboard.

"Hey, man, you're doing it!" Dave called after him, anxiously watching him with thinly veiled pride as John tottered away.

John looked down at his feet planted on the board, grinned and shouted, "Y-Yeah! Check it out, I'm—" He flailed around in the air for a moment before coming crashing down on the concrete, the skateboard flipping up and skidding away.

"Damn it," Dave hissed. He ran up to John and held out his hand. He wasn't _that_ worried, he hadn't been on pins and needles watching John teeter precariously on the board or anything. "You okay, man?" he asked after he'd pulled John up onto his feet again.

"Yeah!" John beamed at him, "That was awesome, you saw me, right? I was rockin' on that thing!" Dave forced himself to smile at John's terrible use of coolkid vocabulary, but the smile faded immediately when he saw John reaching for the board again. "I gotta get better at this, it's so fun!" John said as he dashed off for the trick park.

"Wait, John, you're not—goddamn it," Dave called after him. He kicked the pavement and shoved his hands in his pockets. Whatever, he wasn't going to go doing anything too bad—"Oh shit. Not the half pipe."

John was climbing up the ladder to the platform at the top of the half pipe, grinning that goofy smile down at the drop. His heart was racing, maybe this was all it took to get that feeling back, the feeling that he was something other than human or something more than a nerdy thirteen-year-old. And that feeling was only inches away.

"Fuck, John, get down from there!" Dave yelled up at him, waving his arms around. Totally not cool, and he could see the girls staring at him, but whatever—saving John's neck was a tad more important than keeping a cool exterior. "You only just fucking got on the board for the first time!"

"It's fine, Dave!" John called down, setting the skateboard down on the platform, "I've got a great trick up my sleeve!"

"Fuck no, get down!"

John stood on the ledge, looking out over the park. It felt good to be so high up. He closed his eyes for a second, feeling the slightest breeze blow across his skin, through his clothes. He'd missed the wind. It was such an odd thing at first, being able to control the wind. But later it didn't seem to weird; the wind became his loyal friend, who he could play with or use to help him with anything he needed. He could fly back then. Flying was really fun, if he remembered right. But what if he didn't remember right?

There was only one way to find out.

"John! Fuck, what're you even doing?" Dave was shouting from below. John vaguely heard him, somewhere in the back of his head, but he paid it little mind. He was back in the Land of Wind and Shade, jetpack on his back, flying up and up and up towards the final gate…

He crouched down and grabbed onto the skateboard, stepping onto it and steadying himself. He stayed there for a moment, letting the breeze rustle through his shirt again, then tipped off the edge.

He flicked his wrist out, breathing in and imagining a breath of air lifting him up. Was it working, was he flying again?

He got his answer when he crashed against the hard surface of the half pipe and skidded down to the ground, board clattering down beside him.

"_Fuck,_" Dave muttered under his breath as he ran over to him, "_fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…_" He reached John and knelt down beside him, carefully turning him over and removing his now broken glasses. They had left cuts on the bridge of his nose and through his left eyebrow. John was just grinning stupidly up at him, and Dave was glad for his own shades concealing his rage.

But he wasn't angry at John, at least not completely. Whatever it was, it wasn't the board or the cuts or that stupid smile. It was that stupid fucking grey girl for convincing him to go—but they weren't in the game anymore. This was reality. Fucking reality.

"What the fuck'd you think were doing?" Dave said, putting everything he had into sounding normal and barely succeeding, "You can't fucking fly or whatever shit you were tryin' to pull."

John looked confused for a second, and in that second Dave's heart sank when he realized the connotations of what he'd just said. "God, I mean… you can't…"

"I guess the windy thing really doesn't work out here, huh?" John laughed nervously, sitting up and examining his glasses, "Aw man, these're cracked, Dad'll kill me…"

"No shit it doesn't work," Dave spat the words out as if they had a particularly bitter taste, "We're not there anymore."

John winced and held his wrist, carefully looking it over. "Uh, I think I sprained it, this really hurts to move it," he said, "I should get this checked."

"Goddamn it, listen for a second!" Dave shouted before he could control himself. There he went, coolkid cover blown. As if it had been there at all since John had run off with the board.

John looked up. He looked so different without his glasses, it was… weird. Dave decided he'd make sure John got his glasses fixed soon—he was much cuter rocking the nerdy look. "It hurts," was all he said.

"Well did you ever stop to think about what it was like _watching_ you fall? Watching you fly up to that fucking gate and getting your sorry ass killed? Four months, man. You got me and Rose stuck in that timeline for four fucking months. Jade died, too, because you fucked up so bad! What were you even trying to do?"

John looked sheepishly down at the ground. "…trying to fly," he admitted under his breath.

"Trying to fly. You were just trying to fly. Oh that's great, y'know I try that all the time. Jumping off towers and shit, I get some pretty sweet air that way. I go for miles. But that still doesn't explain the fact that you _jumped off a half pipe to see if you could fly_."

John began to fidget, massaging his wrist carefully. "…I tried the windy thing."

"Oh. You tried the windy thing. That makes a world of a difference. Several planetsworth, actually. It still stands that you're _not in the fucking game._"

John just stared at him. "Dave…"

"Don't go all sappy on me," Dave snapped, hastily standing up, "I saw you die once. Several times, actually, but only really got to stop you once. And that psycho troll girl still almost got you to… almost got me, too. That game was fuckin' horrible, man, why're you all hot and bothered over it? It's all fucking done and over with, we never have to think about it again. But dude, just… don't go wrecking yourself all over the place. I don't want to have to deal with more dead Johns to tally up."

"Oh my god, John're you okay?" Jade interrupted them, running over to sit by John, "We saw you fall and it looked really bad! Oh, you're bleeding all over!"

"Yes, it looked quite dangerous, falling from that height. Why're you holding your wrist like that?" Rose asked.

John rubbed it again and muttered, "Sprained it."

"Oh man, let's go tell your dad!" Jade said, helping him up and leading him to the park entrance. It wasn't a far walk to the house, just two blocks.

Dave shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned at the pavement. He kicked the skateboard and watched it flip and skitter around.

Rose came up to stand next to him. "I won't go around blaming people. It's not my style."

"Fantastic."

"But I must say it really was not a good idea to let him run amok like that."

"Even more fantastic."

"Care to enlighten your dear sister as to why you suddenly let him go flying off a ledge?"

"Fuck that, you're not my sister. I've got a bro."

Rose didn't respond for a moment, as if calculating something, analyzing Dave's reaction. Dave tried to remain nonchalant, but he really hated it when Rose did this. He didn't sit well with personality analysis.

"I've gotta go," he said, "Got to draw more of my sweet ironic comic."

"Alright," Rose said curtly, skating off to catch up with Jade and John. Dave picked up his board, set it down properly on the blacktop, and zoomed away from the scene back into the stable and constant real world.

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><p>A little angsty, I hope I carried it well. I'd love to know what you all thought, and thanks for reading!<p> 


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